The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline gearing question

I put 355:1 gears in the differential of my 1940 half ton pickup.Now I have also put the same ratio gears in my 53 half ton pickup. Now, when driving them, it seems to me that the 53 truck is geared higher than the 40 truck. The difference is noticeable. So, I'm wondering if this might be due to dome differnce in gearing in the 2 transmissions? The 40 truck is an original tranny for sure. The 53 truck is a 3 speed column shift, that I think is original, but don't really know for sure

Mike does it seem this way in third gear (or the final gear of either transmission)? Reason I ask is no matter what transmission you have it is very likely to have a 1:1 final gear and unless you have notably larger or smaller tires/wheels on one truck than the other, you should not notice much difference. In any other gear, we'd need to know the transmission type (3 speed or 4 speed) so we could know what each individual gear ratio is.

Tire diameter, are they the same?
What does the tachometer say? or are you just going off the sound.

The tires are 16 inch bias ply on both trucks. Both are 3 speed transmissions. Honestly, I can't say that I notice a big difference in 3rd gear. Although I haven't driven the 53 out on the highway much yet. But I'll have to say, that I have mostly noticed the difference in low gear. Thanks guys.

Mike - According to a search in the GM Heritage Vehicle Info Kit files for 1940 and 1953 3 speeds, both have a 1st gear ratio of 2.94.

Shouldn’t be any difference in take off/driving in 1st gears between the trucks, all other things being equal.

You mentioned both trucks run the same sized wheels/tires, but are the tires the same brand? Different brands often have different outside diameters, with any such difference possibly affecting driving performance when comparing the trucks.

Yeah, it is the 4 speed where ratios were different. All those 3 speeds were the same.

What exactly are the symptoms that you are experiencing which leads you to believe that one truck is geared differently than the other?
Lack of torque?
One is louder than the other?
What engine are you running in each truck and how many miles on each engine?
Going to 3.55 gears will reduce your RPM at highway speeds, but like many modifications, there is no such thing as free lunch.
You lose considerable torque in all gears, especially in low gear.
This will be very noticeable with a well-worn engine, or one out of tune, or carburetor is out of adjustment.